When Republican presidential contender Ben Carson touched off a firestorm last weekend by saying he "would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation," his top aide shrugged off the controversy.

"Republican primary voters are with us at least 80-20," campaign manager Barry Bennett told The Associated Press .

He was basically right.

In a new HuffPost/YouGov poll , 57 percent of Americans, including 83 percent of Republicans, say they agree with Carson's statement about Muslim candidates. Just 7 percent of Republicans think Carson should apologize. (Facing condemnations from not only Muslim civil rights groups but also several GOP rivals, Carson eventually walked back his statements somewhat , claiming they had been taken out of context.)

A simple test demonstrates that Americans' views of the unfairness of opposing a candidate for the candidate's religious beliefs depend on which religion is in question. Half the people surveyed were asked whether it would be fair to oppose a political candidate for office solely because the person was a Christian. The other half were asked the same question about a hypothetical Muslim candidate, with considerably different results.